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+ CHAPTER XI IN THE TENT The man who guided Salammbo made her ascend again 
beyond the pharos in the direction of the Catacombs , and then go down the long 
suburb of Molouya , which was full of steep lanes . The sky was beginning to 
grow grey . Sometimes palm-wood beams jutting out from the walls obliged them 
to bend their heads . The two horses which were at the walk would often slip ; 
and thus they reached the Teveste gate . Its heavy leaves were half open ; they 
passed through , and it closed behind them . At first they followed the foot of 
the ramparts for a time , and at the height of the cisterns they took their way 
along the Taenia , a narrow strip of yellow earth separating the gulf from the 
lake and extending as far as Rhades . No one was to be seen around Carthage , 
whether on the sea or in the country . The slate-coloured waves chopped softly 
, and the light wind blowing their foam hither and thither spotted them with 
white rents . In spite of all her veils , Salammbo sh
 ivered in the freshness of the morning ; the motion and the open air dazed her 
. Then the sun rose ; it preyed on the back of her head , and she involuntarily 
dozed a little . The two animals rambled along side by side , their feet 
sinking into the silent sand . When they had passed the mountain of the Hot 
Springs , they went on at a more rapid rate , the ground being firmer . But 
although it was the season for sowing and ploughing , the fields were as empty 
as the desert as far as the eye could reach . Here and there were scattered 
heaps of corn ; at other places the barley was shedding its reddened ears . The 
villages showed black upon the clear horizon , with shapes incoherently carved 
. From time to time a half-calcined piece of wall would be found standing on 
the edge of the road . The roofs of the cottages were falling in , and in the 
interiors might be distinguished fragments of pottery , rags of clothing , and 
all kinds of unrecognisable utensils and broken things . Often a 
 creature clothed in tatters , with earthy face and flaming eyes would emerge 
from these ruins . But he would very quickly begin to run or would disappear 
into a hole . Salammbo and her guide did not stop . Deserted plains succeeded 
one another . Charcoal dust which was raised by their feet behind them , 
stretched in unequal trails over large spaces of perfectly white soil . 
Sometimes they came upon little peaceful spots , where a brook flowed amid the 
long grass ; and as they ascended the other bank Salammbo would pluck damp 
leaves to cool her hands . At the corner of a wood of rose-bays her horse shied 
violently at the corpse of a man which lay extended on the ground . The slave 
immediately settled her again on the cushions . He was one of the servants of 
the Temple , a man whom Schahabarim used to employ on perilous missions . With 
extreme precaution he now went on foot beside her and between the horses ; he 
would whip the animals with the end of a leathern lace wound round his ar
 m , or would perhaps take balls made of wheat , dates , and yolks of eggs 
wrapped in lotus leaves from a scrip hanging against his breast , and offer 
them to Salammbo without speaking , and running all the time . In the middle of 
the day three Barbarians clad in animals ' skins crossed their path . By 
degrees others appeared wandering in troops of ten , twelve , or twenty-five 
men ; many were driving goats or a limping cow . Their heavy sticks bristled 
with brass points ; cutlasses gleamed in their clothes , which were savagely 
dirty , and they opened their eyes with a look of menace and amazement . As 
they passed some sent them a vulgar benediction ; others obscene jests , and 
Schahabarim 's man replied to each in his own idiom . He told them that this 
was a sick youth going to be cured at a distant temple . However , the day was 
closing in . Barkings were heard , and they approached them . Then in the 
twilight they perceived an enclosure of dry stones shutting in a rambling edific
 e . A dog was running along the top of the wall . The slave threw some pebbles 
at him and they entered a lofty vaulted hall . A woman was crouching in the 
centre warming herself at a fire of brushwood , the smoke of which escaped 
through the holes in the ceiling . She was half hidden by her white hair which 
fell to her knees ; and unwilling to answer , she muttered with idiotic look 
words of vengeance against the Barbarians and the Carthaginians . The runner 
ferreted right and left . Then he returned to her and demanded something to eat 
. The old woman shook her head , and murmured with her eyes fixed upon the 
charcoal : " I was the hand . The ten fingers are cut off . The mouth eats no 
more . " The slave showed her a handful of gold pieces . She rushed upon them , 
but soon resumed her immobility . At last he placed a dagger which he had in 
his girdle beneath her throat . Then , trembling , she went and raised a large 
stone , and brought back an amphora of wine with fish from Hippo-
 Zarytus preserved in honey . Salammbo turned away from this unclean food , and 
fell asleep on the horses ' caparisons which were spread in a corner of the 
hall . He awoke her before daylight . The dog was howling . The slave went up 
to it quietly , and struck off its head with a single blow of his dagger . Then 
he rubbed the horses ' nostrils with blood to revive them . The old woman cast 
a malediction at him from behind . Salammbo perceived this , and pressed the 
amulet which she wore above her heart . They resumed their journey . From time 
to time she asked whether they would not arrive soon . The road undulated over 
little hills . Nothing was to be heard but the grating of the grasshoppers . 
The sun heated the yellowed grass ; the ground was all chinked with crevices 
which in dividing formed , as it were , monstrous paving-stones . Sometimes a 
viper passed , or eagles flew by ; the slave still continued running . Salammbo 
mused beneath her veils , and in spite of the heat did not
  lay them aside through fear of soiling her beautiful garments . At regular 
distances stood towers built by the Carthaginians for the purpose of keeping 
watch upon the tribes . They entered these for the sake of the shade , and then 
set out again . For prudence sake they had made a wide detour the day before . 
But they met with no one just now ; the region being a sterile one , the 
Barbarians had not passed that way . Gradually the devastation began again . 
Sometimes a piece of mosaic would be displayed in the centre of a field , the 
sole remnant of a vanished mansion ; and the leafless olive trees looked at a 
distance like large bushes of thorns . They passed through a town in which 
houses were burnt to the ground . Human skeletons might be seen along the walls 
. There were some , too , of dromedaries and mules . Half-gnawed carrion 
blocked the streets . Night fell . The sky was lowering and cloudy . They 
ascended again for two hours in a westerly direction , when suddenly they per
 ceived a quantity of little flames before them . These were shining at the 
bottom of an ampitheatre . Gold plates , as they displaced one another , 
glanced here and there . These were the cuirasses of the Clinabarians in the 
Punic camp ; then in the neighbourhood they distinguished other and more 
numerous lights , for the armies of the Mercenaries , now blended together , 
extended over a great space . Salammbo made a movement as though to advance . 
But Schahabarim 's man took her further away , and they passed along by the 
terrace which enclosed the camp of the Barbarians . A breach became visible in 
it , and the slave disappeared . A sentry was walking upon the top of the 
entrenchment with a bow in his hand and a pike on his shoulder . Salammbo drew 
still nearer ; the Barbarian knelt and a long arrow pierced the hem of her 
cloak . Then as she stood motionless and shrieking , he asked her what she 
wanted . " To speak to Matho , " she replied . " I am a fugitive from Carthage 
. " He 
 gave a whistle , which was repeated at intervals further away . Salammbo 
waited ; her frightened horse moved round and round , sniffing . When Matho 
arrived the moon was rising behind her . But she had a yellow veil with black 
flowers over her face , and so many draperies about her person , that it was 
impossible to make any guess about her . From the top of the terrace he gazed 
upon this vague form standing up like a phantom in the penumbrae of the evening 
. At last she said to him : " Lead me to your tent ! I wish it ! " A 
recollection which he could not define passed through his memory . He felt his 
heart beating . The air of command intimidated him . " Follow me ! " he said . 
The barrier was lowered , and immediately she was in the camp of the Barbarians 
. It was filled with a great tumult and a great throng . Bright fires were 
burning beneath hanging pots ; and their purpled reflections illuminating some 
places left others completely in the dark . There was shouting and calling
  ; shackled horses formed long straight lines amid the tents ; the latter were 
round and square , of leather or of canvas ; there were huts of reeds , and 
holes in the sand such as are made by dogs . Soldiers were carting faggots , 
resting on their elbows on the ground , or wrapping themselves up in mats and 
preparing to sleep ; and Salammbo 's horse sometimes stretched out a leg and 
jumped in order to pass over them . She remembered that she had seen them 
before ; but their beards were longer now , their faces still blacker , and 
their voices hoarser . Matho , who walked before her , waved them off with a 
gesture of his arm which raised his red mantle . Some kissed his hands ; others 
bending their spines approached him to ask for orders , for he was now 
veritable and sole chief of the Barbarians ; Spendius , Autaritus , and Narr ' 
Havas had become disheartened , and he had displayed so much audacity and 
obstinacy that all obeyed him . Salammbo followed him through the entire camp .
  His tent was at the end , three hundred feet from Hamilcar 's entrenchments . 
She noticed a wide pit on the right , and it seemed to her that faces were 
resting against the edge of it on a level with the ground , as decapitated 
heads might have done . However , their eyes moved , and from these half-opened 
mouths groanings escaped in the Punic tongue . Two Negroes holding resin lights 
stood on both sides of the door . Matho drew the canvas abruptly aside . She 
followed him . It was a deep tent with a pole standing up in the centre . It 
was lighted by a large lamp-holder shaped like a lotus and full of a yellow oil 
wherein floated handfuls of burning tow , and military things might be 
distinguished gleaming in the shade . A naked sword leaned against a stool by 
the side of a shield ; whips of hippopotamus leather , cymbals , bells , and 
necklaces were displayed pell-mell on baskets of esparto-grass ; a felt rug lay 
soiled with crumbs of black bread ; some copper money was carelessly
  heaped upon a round stone in a corner , and through the rents in the canvas 
the wind brought the dust from without , together with the smell of the 
elephants , which might be heard eating and shaking their chains . " Who are 
you ? " said Matho . She looked slowly around her without replying ; then her 
eyes were arrested in the background , where something bluish and sparkling 
fell upon a bed of palm-branches . She advanced quickly . A cry escaped her . 
Matho stamped his foot behind her . " Who brings you here ? why do you come ? " 
" To take it ! " she replied , pointing to the zaimph , and with the other hand 
she tore the veils from her head . He drew back with his elbows behind him , 
gaping , almost terrified . She felt as if she were leaning on the might of the 
gods ; and looking at him face to face she asked him for the zaimph ; she 
demanded it in words abundant and superb . Matho did not hear ; he was gazing 
at her , and in his eyes her garments were blended with her body . The
  clouding of the stuffs , like the splendour of her skin , was something 
special and belonging to her alone . Her eyes and her diamonds sparkled ; the 
polish of her nails continued the delicacy of the stones which loaded her 
fingers ; the two clasps of her tunic raised her breasts somewhat and brought 
them closer together , and he in thought lost himself in the narrow interval 
between them whence there fell a thread holding a plate of emeralds which could 
be seen lower down beneath the violet gauze . She had as earrings two little 
sapphire scales , each supporting a hollow pearl filled with liquid scent . A 
little drop would fall every moment through the holes in the pearl and moisten 
her naked shoulder . Matho watched it fall . He was carried away by 
ungovernable curiosity ; and , like a child laying his hand upon a strange 
fruit , he tremblingly and lightly touched the top of her chest with the tip of 
his finger : the flesh , which was somewhat cold , yielded with an elastic resis
 tance . This contact , though scarcely a sensible one , shook Matho to the 
very depths of his nature . An uprising of his whole being urged him towards 
her . He would fain have enveloped her , absorbed her , drunk her . His bosom 
was panting , his teeth were chattering . Taking her by the wrists he drew her 
gently to him , and then sat down upon a cuirass beside the palm-tree bed which 
was covered with a lion 's skin . She was standing . He looked up at her , 
holding her thus between his knees , and repeating : " How beautiful you are ! 
how beautiful you are ! " His eyes , which were continually fixed upon hers , 
pained her ; and the uncomfortableness , the repugnance increased in so acute a 
fashion that Salammbo put a constraint upon herself not to cry out . The 
thought of Schahabarim came back to her , and she resigned herself . Matho 
still kept her little hands in his own ; and from time to time , in spite of 
the priest 's command , she turned away her face and tried to thrust hi
 m off by jerking her arms . He opened his nostrils the better to breathe in 
the perfume which exhaled from her person . It was a fresh , indefinable 
emanation , which nevertheless made him dizzy , like the smoke from a 
perfuming-pan . She smelt of honey , pepper , incense , roses , with another 
odour still . But how was she thus with him in his tent , and at his disposal ? 
Some one no doubt had urged her . She had not come for the zaimph . His arms 
fell , and he bent his head whelmed in sudden reverie . To soften him Salammbo 
said to him in a plaintive voice : " What have I done to you that you should 
desire my death ? " " Your death ! " She resumed : " I saw you one evening by 
the light of my burning gardens amid fuming cups and my slaughtered slaves , 
and your anger was so strong that you bounded towards me and I was obliged to 
fly ! Then terror entered into Carthage . There were cries of the devastation 
of the towns , the burning of the country-seats , the massacre of the soldier
 y ; it was you who had ruined them , it was you who had murdered them ! I hate 
you ! Your very name gnaws me like remorse ! You are execrated more than the 
plague , and the Roman war ! The provinces shudder at your fury , the furrows 
are full of corpses ! I have followed the traces of your fires as though I were 
travelling behind Moloch ! " Matho leaped up ; his heart was swelling with 
colossal pride ; he was raised to the stature of a god . With quivering 
nostrils and clenched teeth she went on : " As if your sacrilege were not 
enough , you came to me in my sleep covered with the zaimph ! Your words I did 
not understand ; but I could see that you wished to drag me to some terrible 
thing at the bottom of an abyss . " Matho , writhing his arms , exclaimed : " 
No ! no ! it was to give it to you ! to restore it to you ! It seemed to me 
that the goddess had left her garment for you , and that it belonged to you ! 
In her temple or in your house , what does it matter ? are you not all-pow
 erful , immaculate , radiant and beautiful even as Tanith ? " And with a look 
of boundless adoration he added : " Unless perhaps you are Tanith ? " " I , 
Tanith ! " said Salammbo to herself . They left off speaking . The thunder 
rolled in the distance . Some sheep bleated , frightened by the storm . " Oh ! 
come near ! " he went on , " come near ! fear nothing ! " Formerly I was only a 
soldier mingled with the common herd of the Mercenaries , ay , and so meek that 
I used to carry wood on my back for the others . Do I trouble myself about 
Carthage ! The crowd of its people move as though lost in the dust of your 
sandals , and all its treasures , with the provinces , fleets , and islands , 
do not raise my envy like the freshness of your lips and the turn of your 
shoulders . But I wanted to throw down its walls that I might reach you to 
possess you ! Moreover , I was revenging myself in the meantime ! At present I 
crush men like shells , and I throw myself upon phalanxes ; I put aside t
 he sarissae with my hands , I check the stallions by the nostrils ; a catapult 
would not kill me ! Oh ! if you knew how I think of you in the midst of war ! 
Sometimes the memory of a gesture or of a fold of your garment suddenly seizes 
me and entwines me like a net ! I perceive your eyes in the flames of the 
phalaricas and on the gilding of the shields ! I hear your voice in the 
sounding of the cymbals . I turn aside , but you are not there ! and I plunge 
again into the battle ! " He raised his arms whereon his veins crossed one 
another like ivy on the branches of a tree . Sweat flowed down his breast 
between his square muscles ; and his breathing shook his sides with his bronze 
girdle all garnished with thongs hanging down to his knees , which were firmer 
than marble . Salammbo , who was accustomed to eunuchs , yielded to amazement 
at the strength of this man . It was the chastisement of the goddess or the 
influence of Moloch in motion around her in the five armies . She was overwh
 elmed with lassitude ; and she listened in a state of stupor to the 
intermittent shouts of the sentinels as they answered one another . The flames 
of the lamp kindled in the squalls of hot air . There came at times broad 
lightning flashes ; then the darkness increased ; and she could only see Matho 
's eyeballs like two coals in the night . However , she felt that a fatality 
was surrounding her , that she had reached a supreme and irrevocable moment , 
and making an effort she went up again towards the zaimph and raised her hands 
to seize it . " What are you doing ? " exclaimed Matho . " I am going back to 
Carthage , " she placidly replied . He advanced folding his arms and with so 
terrible a look that her heels were immediately nailed , as it were , to the 
spot . " Going back to Carthage ! " He stammered , and , grinding his teeth , 
repeated : " Going back to Carthage ! Ah ! you came to take the zaimph , to 
conquer me , and then disappear ! No , no ! you belong to me ! and no one now
  shall tear you from here ! Oh ! I have not forgotten the insolence of your 
large tranquil eyes , and how you crushed me with the haughtiness of your 
beauty ! 'Tis my turn now ! You are my captive , my slave , my servant ! Call , 
if you like , on your father and his army , the Ancients , the rich , and your 
whole accursed people ! I am the master of three hundred thousand soldiers ! I 
will go and seek them in Lusitania , in the Gauls , and in the depths of the 
desert , and I will overthrow your town and burn all its temples ; the triremes 
shall float on the waves of blood ! I will not have a house , a stone , or a 
palm tree remaining ! And if men fail me I will draw the bears from the 
mountains and urge on the lions ! Seek not to fly or I kill you ! " Pale and 
with clenched fists he quivered like a harp whose strings are about to burst . 
Suddenly sobs stifled him , and he sank down upon his hams . " Ah ! forgive me 
! I am a scoundrel , and viler than scorpions , than mire and dust !
  Just now while you were speaking your breath passed across my face , and I 
rejoiced like a dying man who drinks lying flat on the edge of a stream . Crush 
me , if only I feel your feet ! curse me , if only I hear your voice ! Do not 
go ! have pity ! I love you ! I love you ! " He was on his knees on the ground 
before her ; and he encircled her form with both his arms , his head thrown 
back , and his hands wandering ; the gold discs hanging from his ears gleamed 
upon his bronzed neck ; big tears rolled in his eyes like silver globes ; he 
sighed caressingly , and murmured vague words lighter than a breeze and sweet 
as a kiss . Salammbo was invaded by a weakness in which she lost all 
consciousness of herself . Something at once inward and lofty , a command from 
the gods , obliged her to yield herself ; clouds uplifted her , and she fell 
back swooning upon the bed amid the lion 's hair . The zaimph fell , and 
enveloped her ; she could see Matho 's face bending down above her breast . "
  Moloch , thou burnest me ! " and the soldier 's kisses , more devouring than 
flames , covered her ; she was as though swept away in a hurricane , taken in 
the might of the sun . He kissed all her fingers , her arms , her feet , and 
the long tresses of her hair from one end to the other . " Carry it off , " he 
said , " what do I care ? take me away with it ! I abandon the army ! I 
renounce everything ! Beyond Gades , twenty days ' journey into the sea , you 
come to an island covered with gold dust , verdure , and birds . On the 
mountains large flowers filled with smoking perfumes rock like eternal censers 
; in the citron trees , which are higher than cedars , milk-coloured serpents 
cause the fruit to fall upon the turf with the diamonds in their jaws ; the air 
is so mild that it keeps you from dying . Oh ! I shall find it , you will see . 
We shall live in crystal grottoes cut out at the foot of the hills . No one 
dwells in it yet , or I shall become the king of the country . " He br
 ushed the dust off her cothurni ; he wanted her to put a quarter of a 
pomegranate between her lips ; he heaped up garments behind her head to make a 
cushion for her . He sought for means to serve her , and to humble himself , 
and he even spread the zaimph over her feet as if it were a mere rug . " Have 
you still , " he said , " those little gazelle 's horns on which your necklaces 
hang ? You will give them to me ! I love them ! " For he spoke as if the war 
were finished , and joyful laughs broke from him . The Mercenaries , Hamilcar , 
every obstacle had now disappeared . The moon was gliding between two clouds . 
They could see it through an opening in the tent . " Ah , what nights have I 
spent gazing at her ! she seemed to me like a veil that hid your face ; you 
would look at me through her ; the memory of you was mingled with her beams ; 
then I could no longer distinguish you ! " And with his head between her 
breasts he wept copiously . " And this , " she thought , " is the formida
 ble man who makes Carthage tremble ! " He fell asleep . Then disengaging 
herself from his arm she put one foot to the ground , and she perceived that 
her chainlet was broken . The maidens of the great families were accustomed to 
respect these shackles as something that was almost religious , and Salammbo , 
blushing , rolled the two pieces of the golden chain around her ankles . 
Carthage , Megara , her house , her room , and the country that she had passed 
through , whirled in tumultuous yet distinct images through her memory . But an 
abyss had yawned and thrown them far back to an infinite distance from her . 
The storm was departing ; drops of water splashing rarely , one by one , made 
the tent-roof shake . Matho slept like a drunken man , stretched on his side , 
and with one arm over the edge of the couch . His band of pearls was raised 
somewhat , and uncovered his brow ; his teeth were parted in a smile ; they 
shone through his black beard , and there was a silent and almost outra
 geous gaiety in his half-closed eyelids . Salammbo looked at him motionless , 
her head bent and her hands crossed . A dagger was displayed on the table of 
cypress-wood at the head of the bed ; the sight of the gleaming blade fired her 
with a sanguinary desire . Mournful voices lingered at a distance in the shade 
, and like a chorus of geniuses urged her on . She approached it ; she seized 
the steel by the handle . At the rustling of her dress Matho half opened his 
eyes , putting forth his mouth upon her hands , and the dagger fell . Shouts 
arose ; a terrible light flashed behind the canvas . Matho raised the latter ; 
they perceived the camp of the Libyans enveloped in great flames . Their reed 
huts were burning , and the twisting stems burst in the smoke and flew off like 
arrows ; black shadows ran about distractedly on the red horizon . They could 
hear the shrieks of those who were in the huts ; the elephants , oxen , and 
horses plunged in the midst of the crowd crushing it togethe
 r with the stores and baggage that were being rescued from the fire . Trumpets 
sounded . There were calls of " Matho ! Matho ! " Some people at the door tried 
to get in . " Come along ! Hamilcar is burning the camp of Autaritus ! " He 
made a spring . She found herself quite alone . Then she examined the zaimph ; 
and when she had viewed it well she was surprised that she had not the 
happiness which she had once imagined to herself . She stood with melancholy 
before her accomplished dream . But the lower part of the tent was raised , and 
a monstrous form appeared . Salammbo could at first distinguish only the two 
eyes and a long white beard which hung down to the ground ; for the rest of the 
body , which was cumbered with the rags of a tawny garment , trailed along the 
earth ; and with every forward movement the hands passed into the beard and 
then fell again . Crawling in this way it reached her feet , and Salammbo 
recognised the aged Gisco . In fact , the Mercenaries had broken the 
 legs of the captive Ancients with a brass bar to prevent them from taking to 
flight ; and they were all rotting pell-mell in a pit in the midst of filth . 
But the sturdiest of them raised themselves and shouted when they heard the 
noise of platters , and it was in this way that Gisco had seen Salammbo . He 
had guessed that she was a Carthaginian woman by the little balls of sandastrum 
flapping against her cothurni ; and having a presentiment of an important 
mystery he had succeeded , with the assistance of his companions , in getting 
out of the pit ; then with elbows and hands he had dragged himself twenty paces 
further on as far as Matho 's tent . Two voices were speaking within it . He 
had listened outside and had heard everything . " It is you ! " she said at 
last , almost terrified . " Yes , it is I ! " he replied , raising himself on 
his wrists . " They think me dead , do they not ? " She bent her head . He 
resumed : " Ah ! why have the Baals not granted me this mercy ! " He ap
 proached so close he was touching her . " They would have spared me the pain 
of cursing you ! " Salammbo sprang quickly back , so much afraid was she of 
this unclean being , who was as hideous as a larva and nearly as terrible as a 
phantom . " I am nearly one hundred years old , " he said . " I have seen 
Agathocles ; I have seen Regulus and the eagles of the Romans passing over the 
harvests of the Punic fields ! I have seen all the terrors of battles and the 
sea encumbered with the wrecks of our fleets ! Barbarians whom I used to 
command have chained my four limbs like a slave that has committed murder . My 
companions are dying around me , one after the other ; the odour of their 
corpses awakes me in the night ; I drive away the birds that come to peck out 
their eyes ; and yet not for a single day have I despaired of Carthage ! Though 
I had seen all the armies of the earth against her , and the flames of the 
siege overtop the height of the temples , I should have still believed in h
 er eternity ! But now all is over ! all is lost ! The gods execrate her ! A 
curse upon you who have quickened her ruin by your disgrace ! " She opened her 
lips . " Ah ! I was there ! " he cried . " I heard you gurgling with love like 
a prostitute ; then he told you of his desire , and you allowed him to kiss 
your hands ! But if the frenzy of your unchastity urged you to it , you should 
at least have done as do the fallow deer , which hide themselves in their 
copulations , and not have displayed your shame beneath your father 's very 
eyes ! " " What ? " she said . " Ah ! you did not know that the two 
entrenchments are sixty cubits from each other and that your Matho , in the 
excess of his pride , has posted himself just in front of Hamilcar . Your 
father is there behind you ; and could I climb the path which leads to the 
platform , I should cry to him : 'Come and see your daughter in the Barbarian 
's arms ! She has put on the garment of the goddess to please him ; and in 
yielding her
  body to him she surrenders with the glory of your name the majesty of the 
gods , the vengeance of her country , even the safety of Carthage ! ' " The 
motion of his toothless mouth moved his beard throughout its length ; his eyes 
were riveted upon her and devoured her ; panting in the dust he repeated : " Ah 
! sacrilegious one ! May you be accursed ! accursed ! accursed ! " Salammbo had 
drawn back the canvas ; she held it raised at arm 's length , and without 
answering him she looked in the direction of Hamilcar . " It is this way , is 
it not ? " she said . " What matters it to you ? Turn away ! Begone ! Rather 
crush your face against the earth ! It is a holy spot which would be polluted 
by your gaze ! " She threw the zaimph about her waist , and quickly picked up 
her veils , mantle , and scarf . " I hasten thither ! " she cried ; and making 
her escape Salammbo disappeared . At first she walked through the darkness 
without meeting any one , for all were betaking themselves to the fi
 re ; the uproar was increasing and great flames purpled the sky behind ; a 
long terrace stopped her . She turned round to right and left at random , 
seeking for a ladder , a rope , a stone , something in short to assist her . 
She was afraid of Gisco , and it seemed to her that shouts and footsteps were 
pursuing her . Day was beginning to break . She perceived a path in the 
thickness of the entrenchment . She took the hem of her robe , which impeded 
her , in her teeth , and in three bounds she was on the platform . A sonorous 
shout burst forth beneath her in the shade , the same which she had heard at 
the foot of the galley staircase , and leaning over she recognised Schahabarim 
's man with his coupled horses . He had wandered all night between the two 
entrenchments ; then disquieted by the fire , he had gone back again trying to 
see what was passing in Matho 's camp ; and , knowing that this spot was 
nearest to his tent , he had not stirred from it , in obedience to the priest 
's co
 mmand . He stood up on one of the horses . Salammbo let herself slide down to 
him ; and they fled at full gallop , circling the Punic camp in search of a 
gate . Matho had re-entered his tent . The smoky lamp gave but little light , 
and he also believed that Salammbo was asleep . Then he delicately touched the 
lion 's skin on the palm-tree bed . He called but she did not answer ; he 
quickly tore away a strip of the canvas to let in some light ; the zaimph was 
gone . The earth trembled beneath thronging feet . Shouts , neighings , and 
clashing of armour rose in the air , and clarion flourishes sounded the charge 
. It was as though a hurricane were whirling around him . Immoderate frenzy 
made him leap upon his arms , and he dashed outside . The long files of the 
Barbarians were descending the mountain at a run , and the Punic squares were 
advancing against them with a heavy and regular oscillation . The mist , rent 
by the rays of the sun , formed little rocking clouds which as they ros
 e gradually discovered standards , helmets , and points of pikes . Beneath the 
rapid evolutions portions of the earth which were still in the shadow seemed to 
be displaced bodily ; in other places it looked as if huge torrents were 
crossing one another , while thorny masses stood motionless between them . 
Matho could distinguish the captains , soldiers , heralds , and even the 
serving-men , who were mounted on asses in the rear . But instead of 
maintaining his position in order to cover the foot-soldiers , Narr ' Havas 
turned abruptly to the right , as though he wished himself to be crushed by 
Hamilcar . His horsemen outstripped the elephants , which were slackening their 
speed ; and all the horses , stretching out their unbridled heads , galloped at 
so furious a rate that their bellies seemed to graze the earth . Then suddenly 
Narr ' Havas went resolutely up to a sentry . He threw away his sword , lance , 
and javelins , and disappeared among the Carthaginians . The king of the Numi
 dians reached Hamilcar 's tent , and pointing to his men , who were standing 
still at a distance , he said : " Barca ! I bring them to you . They are yours 
. " Then he prostrated himself in token of bondage , and to prove his fidelity 
recalled all his conduct from the beginning of the war . First , he had 
prevented the siege of Carthage and the massacre of the captives ; then he had 
taken no advantage of the victory over Hanno after the defeat at Utica . As to 
the Tyrian towns , they were on the frontiers of his kingdom . Finally he had 
not taken part in the battle of the Macaras ; and he had even expressly 
absented himself in order to evade the obligation of fighting against the 
Suffet . Narr ' Havas had in fact wished to aggrandise himself by encroachments 
upon the Punic provinces , and had alternately assisted and forsaken the 
Mercenaries according to the chances of victory . But seeing that Hamilcar 
would ultimately prove the stronger , he had gone over to him ; and in his deser
 tion there was perhaps something of a grudge against Matho , whether on 
account of the command or of his former love . The Suffet listened without 
interrupting him . The man who thus presented himself with an army where 
vengeance was his due was not an auxiliary to be despised ; Hamilcar at once 
divined the utility of such an alliance in his great projects . With the 
Numidians he would get rid of the Libyans . Then he would draw off the West to 
the conquest of Iberia ; and , without asking Narr ' Havas why he had not come 
sooner , or noticing any of his lies , he kissed him , striking his breast 
thrice against his own . It was to bring matters to an end and in despair that 
he had fired the camp of the Libyans . This army came to him like a relief from 
the gods ; dissembling his joy he replied : " May the Baals favour you ! I do 
not know what the Republic will do for you , but Hamilcar is not ungrateful . " 
The tumult increased ; some captains entered . He was arming himself as he sp
 oke . " Come , return ! You will use your horsemen to beat down their infantry 
between your elephants and mine . Courage ! exterminate them ! " And Narr ' 
Havas was rushing away when Salammbo appeared . She leaped down quickly from 
her horse . She opened her ample cloak and spreading out her arms displayed the 
zaimph . The leathern tent , which was raised at the corners , left visible the 
entire circuit of the mountain with its thronging soldiers , and as it was in 
the centre Salammbo could be seen on all sides . An immense shouting burst 
forth , a long cry of triumph and hope . Those who were marching stopped ; the 
dying leaned on their elbows and turned round to bless her . All the Barbarians 
knew now that she had recovered the zaimph ; they saw her or believed that they 
saw her from a distance ; and other cries , but those of rage and vengeance , 
resounded in spite of the plaudits of the Carthaginians . Thus did the five 
armies in tiers upon the mountain stamp and shriek around S
 alammbo . Hamilcar , who was unable to speak , nodded her his thanks . His 
eyes were directed alternately upon the zaimph and upon her , and he noticed 
that her chainlet was broken . Then he shivered , being seized with a terrible 
suspicion . But soon recovering his impassibility he looked sideways at Narr ' 
Havas without turning his face . The king of the Numidians held himself apart 
in a discreet attitude ; on his forehead he bore a little of the dust which he 
had touched when prostrating himself . At last the Suffet advanced towards him 
with a look full of gravity . " As a reward for the services which you have 
rendered me , Narr ' Havas , I give you my daughter . Be my son , " he added , 
" and defend your father ! " Narr ' Havas gave a great gesture of surprise ; 
then he threw himself upon Hamilcar 's hands and covered them with kisses . 
Salammbo , calm as a statue , did not seem to understand . She blushed a little 
as she cast down her eyelids , and her long curved lashes made 
 shadows upon her cheeks . Hamilcar wished to unite them immediately in 
indissoluble betrothal . A lance was placed in Salammbo 's hands and by her 
offered to Narr ' Havas ; their thumbs were tied together with a thong of 
ox-leather ; then corn was poured upon their heads , and the grains that fell 
around them rang like rebounding hail . 
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+ CHAPTER II AT SICCA Two days afterwards the Mercenaries left Carthage . 
They had each received a piece of gold on the condition that they should go 
into camp at Sicca , and they had been told with all sorts of caresses : " You 
are the saviours of Carthage ! But you would starve it if you remained there ; 
it would become insolvent . Withdraw ! The Republic will be grateful to you 
later for all this condescension . We are going to levy taxes immediately ; 
your pay shall be in full , and galleys shall be equipped to take you back to 
your native lands . " They did not know how to reply to all this talk . These 
men , accustomed as they were to war , were wearied by residence in a town ; 
there was difficulty in convincing them , and the people mounted the walls to 
see them go away . They defiled through the street of Khamon , and the Cirta 
gate , pell-mell , archers with hoplites , captains with soldiers , Lusitanians 
with Greeks . They marched with a bold step , rattling their heavy 
 cothurni on the paving stones . Their armour was dented by the catapult , and 
their faces blackened by the sunburn of battles . Hoarse cries issued from 
their thick bears , their tattered coats of mail flapped upon the pommels of 
their swords , and through the holes in the brass might be seen their naked 
limbs , as frightful as engines of war . Sarissae , axes , spears , felt caps 
and bronze helmets , all swung together with a single motion . They filled the 
street thickly enough to have made the walls crack , and the long mass of armed 
soldiers overflowed between the lofty bitumen-smeared houses six storys high . 
Behind their gratings of iron or reed the women , with veiled heads , silently 
watched the Barbarians pass . The terraces , fortifications , and walls were 
hidden beneath the crowd of Carthaginians , who were dressed in garments of 
black . The sailors ' tunics showed like drops of blood among the dark 
multitude , and nearly naked children , whose skin shone beneath their c
 opper bracelets , gesticulated in the foliage of the columns , or amid the 
branches of a palm tree . Some of the Ancients were posted on the platform of 
the towers , and people did not know why a personage with a long beard stood 
thus in a dreamy attitude here and there . He appeared in the distance against 
the background of the sky , vague as a phantom and motionless as stone . All , 
however , were oppressed with the same anxiety ; it was feared that the 
Barbarians , seeing themselves so strong , might take a fancy to stay . But 
they were leaving with so much good faith that the Carthaginians grew bold and 
mingled with the soldiers . They overwhelmed them with protestations and 
embraces . Some with exaggerated politeness and audacious hypocrisy even sought 
to induce them not to leave the city . They threw perfumes , flowers , and 
pieces of silver to them . They gave them amulets to avert sickness ; but they 
had spit upon them three times to attract death , or had enclosed jackal 's
  hair within them to put cowardice into their hearts . Aloud , they invoked 
Melkarth 's favour , and in a whisper , his curse . Then came the mob of 
baggage , beasts of burden , and stragglers . The sick groaned on the backs of 
dromedaries , while others limped along leaning on broken pikes . The drunkards 
carried leathern bottles , and the greedy quarters of meat , cakes , fruits , 
butter wrapped in fig leaves , and snow in linen bags . Some were to be seen 
with parasols in their hands , and parrots on their shoulders . They had 
mastiffs , gazelles , and panthers following behind them . Women of Libyan race 
, mounted on asses , inveighed against the Negresses who had forsaken the 
lupanaria of Malqua for the soldiers ; many of them were suckling children 
suspended on their bosoms by leathern thongs . The mules were goaded out at the 
point of the sword , their backs bending beneath the load of tents , while 
there were numbers of serving-men and water-carriers , emaciated , jaundiced 
 with fever , and filthy with vermin , the scum of the Carthaginian populace , 
who had attached themselves to the Barbarians . When they had passed , the 
gates were shut behind them , but the people did not descend from the walls . 
The army soon spread over the breadth of the isthmus . It parted into unequal 
masses . Then the lances appeared like tall blades of grass , and finally all 
was lost in a train of dust ; those of the soldiers who looked back towards 
Carthage could now only see its long walls with their vacant battlements cut 
out against the edge of the sky . Then the Barbarians heard a great shout . 
They thought that some from among them ( for they did not know their own number 
) had remained in the town , and were amusing themselves by pillaging a temple 
. They laughed a great deal at the idea of this , and then continued their 
journey . They were rejoiced to find themselves , as in former days , marching 
all together in the open country , and some of the Greeks sang the o
 ld song of the Mamertines : " With my lance and sword I plough and reap ; I am 
master of the house ! The disarmed man falls at my feet and calls me Lord and 
Great King . " They shouted , they leaped , the merriest began to tell stories 
; the time of their miseries was past . As they arrived at Tunis , some of them 
remarked that a troop of Balearic slingers was missing . They were doubtless 
not far off ; and no further heed was paid to them . Some went to lodge in the 
houses , others camped at the foot of the walls , and the townspeople came out 
to chat with the soldiers . During the whole night fires were seen burning on 
the horizon in the direction of Carthage ; the light stretched like giant 
torches across the motionless lake . No one in the army could tell what 
festival was being celebrated . On the following day the Barbarian 's passed 
through a region that was covered with cultivation . The domains of the 
patricians succeeded one another along the border of the route ; channels
  of water flowed through woods of palm ; there were long , green lines of 
olive-trees ; rose-coloured vapours floated in the gorges of the hills , while 
blue mountains reared themselves behind . A warm wind was blowing . Chameleons 
were crawling on the broad leaves of the cactus . The Barbarians slackened 
their speed . They marched on in isolated detachments , or lagged behind one 
another at long intervals . They ate grapes along the margin of the vines . 
They lay on the grass and gazed with stupefaction upon the large , artificially 
twisted horns of the oxen , the sheep clothed with skins to protect their wool 
, the furrows crossing one another so as to form lozenges , and the 
ploughshares like ships ' anchors , with the pomegranate trees that were 
watered with silphium . Such wealth of the soil and such inventions of wisdom 
dazzled them . In the evening they stretched themselves on the tents without 
unfolding them ; and thought with regret of Hamilcar 's feast , as they fell 
aslee
 p with their faces towards the stars . In the middle of the following day they 
halted on the bank of a river , amid clumps of rose-bays . Then they quickly 
threw aside lances , bucklers and belts . They bathed with shouts , and drew 
water in their helmets , while others drank lying flat on their stomachs , and 
all in the midst of the beasts of burden whose baggage was slipping from them . 
Spendius , who was seated on a dromedary stolen in Hamilcar 's parks , 
perceived Matho at a distance , with his arm hanging against his breast , his 
head bare , and his face bent down , giving his mule drink , and watching the 
water flow . Spendius immediately ran through the crowd calling him , " Master 
! master ! " Matho gave him but scant thanks for his blessings , but Spendius 
paid no heed to this , and began to march behind him , from time to time 
turning restless glances in the direction of Carthage . He was the son of a 
Greek rhetor and a Campanian prostitute . He had at first grown rich by 
 dealing in women ; then , ruined by a shipwreck , he had made war against the 
Romans with the herdsmen of Samnium . He had been taken and had escaped ; he 
had been retaken , and had worked in the quarries , panted in the vapour-baths 
, shrieked under torture , passed through the hands of many masters , and 
experienced every frenzy . At last , one day , in despair , he had flung 
himself into the sea from the top of a trireme where he was working at the oar 
. Some of Hamilcar 's sailors had picked him up when at the point of death , 
and had brought him to the ergastulum of Megara , at Carthage . But , as 
fugitives were to be given back to the Romans , he had taken advantage of the 
confusion to fly with the soldiers . During the whole of the march he remained 
near Matho ; he brought him food , assisted him to dismount , and spread a 
carpet in the evening beneath his head . Matho at last was touched by these 
attentions , and by degrees unlocked his lips . He had been born in the gulf of
  Syrtis . His father had taken him on a pilgrimage to the temple of Ammon . 
Then he had hunted elephants in the forests of the Garamantes . Afterwards he 
had entered the service of Carthage . He had been appointed tetrarch at the 
capture of Drepanum . The Republic owed him four horses , twenty-three medimni 
of wheat , and a winter 's pay . He feared the gods , and wished to die in his 
native land . Spendius spoke to him of his travels , and of the peoples and 
temples that he had visited . He knew many things : he could make sandals , 
boar-spears and nets ; he could tame wild beasts and could cook fish . 
Sometimes he would interrupt himself , and utter a hoarse cry from the depths 
of his throat ; Matho 's mule would quicken his pace , and others would hasten 
after them , and then Spendius would begin again though still torn with agony . 
This subsided at last on the evening of the fourth day . They were marching 
side by side to the right of the army on the side of a hill ; below them 
 stretched the plain lost in the vapours of the night . The lines of soldiers 
also were defiling below , making undulations in the shade . From time to time 
these passed over eminences lit up by the moon ; then stars would tremble on 
the points of the pikes , the helmets would glimmer for an instant , all would 
disappear , and others would come on continually . Startled flocks bleated in 
the distance , and a something of infinite sweetness seemed to sink upon the 
earth . Spendius , with his head thrown back and his eyes half-closed , inhaled 
the freshness of the wind with great sighs ; he spread out his arms , moving 
his fingers that he might the better feel the cares that streamed over his body 
. Hopes of vengeance came back to him and transported him . He pressed his hand 
upon his mouth to check his sobs , and half-swooning with intoxication , let go 
the halter of his dromedary , which was proceeding with long , regular steps . 
Matho had relapsed into his former melancholy ; his le
 gs hung down to the ground , and the grass made a continuous rustling as it 
beat against his cothurni . The journey , however , spread itself out without 
ever coming to an end . At the extremity of a plain they would always reach a 
round-shaped plateau ; then they would descend again into a valley , and the 
mountains which seemed to block up the horizon would , in proportion as they 
were approached , glide as it were from their positions . From time to time a 
river would appear amid the verdure of tamarisks to lose itself at the turning 
of the hills . Sometimes a huge rock would tower aloft like the prow of a 
vessel or the pedestal of some vanished colossus . At regular intervals they 
met with little quadrangular temples , which served as stations for the 
pilgrims who repaired to Sicca . They were closed like tombs . The Libyans 
struck great blows upon the doors to have them opened . But no one inside 
responded . Then the cultivation became more rare . They suddenly entered upon 
bel
 ts of sand bristling with thorny thickets . Flocks of sheep were browsing 
among the stones ; a woman with a blue fleece about her waist was watching them 
. She fled screaming when she saw the soldiers ' pikes among the rocks . They 
were marching through a kind of large passage bordered by two chains of reddish 
coloured hillocks , when their nostrils were greeted with a nauseous odour , 
and they thought that they could see something extraordinary on the top of a 
carob tree : a lion 's head reared itself above the leaves . They ran thither . 
It was a lion with his four limbs fastened to a cross like a criminal . His 
huge muzzle fell upon his breast , and his two fore-paws , half-hidden beneath 
the abundance of his mane , were spread out wide like the wings of a bird . His 
ribs stood severally out beneath his distended skin ; his hind legs , which 
were nailed against each other , were raised somewhat , and the black blood , 
flowing through his hair , had collected in stalactites at the
  end of his tail , which hung down perfectly straight along the cross . The 
soldiers made merry around ; they called him consul , and Roman citizen , and 
threw pebbles into his eyes to drive away the gnats . But a hundred paces 
further on they saw two more , and then there suddenly appeared a long file of 
crosses bearing lions . Some had been so long dead that nothing was left 
against the wood but the remains of their skeletons ; others which were half 
eaten away had their jaws twisted into horrible grimaces ; there were some 
enormous ones ; the shafts of the crosses bent beneath them , and they swayed 
in the wind , while bands of crows wheeled ceaselessly in the air above their 
heads . It was thus that the Carthaginian peasants avenged themselves when they 
captured a wild beast ; they hoped to terrify the others by such an example . 
The Barbarians ceased their laughter , and were long lost in amazement . " What 
people is this , " they thought , " that amuses itself by crucifying li
 ons ! " They were , besides , especially the men of the North , vaguely uneasy 
, troubled , and already sick . They tore their hands with the darts of the 
aloes ; great mosquitoes buzzed in their ears , and dysentry was breaking out 
in the army . They were weary at not yet seeing Sicca . They were afraid of 
losing themselves and of reaching the desert , the country of sands and terrors 
. Many even were unwilling to advance further . Others started back to Carthage 
. At last on the seventh day , after following the base of a mountain for a 
long time , they turned abruptly to the right , and there then appeared a line 
of walls resting on white rocks and blending with them . Suddenly the entire 
city rose ; blue , yellow , and white veils moved on the walls in the redness 
of the evening . These were the priestesses of Tanith , who had hastened hither 
to receive the men . They stood ranged along the rampart , striking tabourines 
, playing lyres , and shaking crotala , while the rays of t
 he sun , setting behind them in the mountains of Numidia , shot between the 
strings of their lyres over which their naked arms were stretched . At 
intervals their instruments would become suddenly still , and a cry would break 
forth strident , precipitate , frenzied , continuous , a sort of barking which 
they made by striking both corners of the mouth with the tongue . Others , more 
motionless than the Sphynx , rested on their elbows with their chins on their 
hands , and darted their great black eyes upon the army as it ascended . 
Although Sicca was a sacred town it could not hold such a multitude ; the 
temple alone , with its appurtenances , occupied half of it . Accordingly the 
Barbarians established themselves at their ease on the plain ; those who were 
disciplined in regular troops , and the rest according to nationality or their 
own fancy . The Greeks ranged their tents of skin in parallel lines ; the 
Iberians placed their canvas pavilions in a circle ; the Gauls made themselve
 s huts of planks ; the Libyans cabins of dry stones , while the Negroes with 
their nails hollowed out trenches in the sand to sleep in . Many , not knowing 
where to go , wandered about among the baggage , and at nightfall lay down in 
their ragged mantles on the ground . The plain , which was wholly bounded by 
mountains , expanded around them . Here and there a palm tree leaned over a 
sand hill , and pines and oaks flecked the sides of the precipices : sometimes 
the rain of a storm would hang from the sky like a long scarf , while the 
country everywhere was still covered with azure and serenity ; then a warm wind 
would drive before it tornadoes of dust , and a stream would descend in 
cascades from the heights of Sicca , where , with its roofing of gold on its 
columns of brass , rose the temple of the Carthaginian Venus , the mistress of 
the land . She seemed to fill it with her soul . In such convulsions of the 
soil , such alternations of temperature , and such plays of light would s
 he manifest the extravagance of her might with the beauty of her eternal smile 
. The mountains at their summits were crescent-shaped ; others were like women 
's bosoms presenting their swelling breasts , and the Barbarians felt a 
heaviness that was full of delight weighing down their fatigues . Spendius had 
bought a slave with the money brought him by his dromedary . The whole day long 
he lay asleep stretched before Matho 's tent . Often he would awake , thinking 
in his dreams that he heard the whistling of the thongs ; with a smile he would 
pass his hands over the scars on his legs at the place where the fetters had 
long been worn , and then he would fall asleep again . Matho accepted his 
companionship , and when he went out Spendius would escort him like a lictor 
with a long sword on his thigh ; or perhaps Matho would rest his arm carelessly 
on the other 's shoulder , for Spendius was small . One evening when they were 
passing together through the streets in the camp they perceive
 d some men covered with white cloaks ; among them was Narr ' Havas , the 
prince of the Numidians . Matho started . " Your sword ! " he cried ; " I will 
kill him ! " " Not yet ! " said Spendius , restraining him . Narr ' Havas was 
already advancing towards him . He kissed both thumbs in token of alliance , 
showing nothing of the anger which he had experienced at the drunkenness of the 
feast ; then he spoke at length against Carthage , but did not say what brought 
him among the Barbarians . " Was it to betray them , or else the Republic ? " 
Spendius asked himself ; and as he expected to profit by every disorder , he 
felt grateful to Narr ' Havas for the future perfidies of which he suspected 
him . The chief of the Numidians remained amongst the Mercenaries . He appeared 
desirous of attaching Matho to himself . He sent him fat goats , gold dust , 
and ostrich feathers . The Libyan , who was amazed at such caresses , was in 
doubt whether to respond to them or to become exasperated at the
 m . But Spendius pacified him , and Matho allowed himself to be ruled by the 
slave , remaining ever irresolute and in an unconquerable torpor , like those 
who have once taken a draught of which they are to die . One morning when all 
three went out lion-hunting , Narr ' Havas concealed a dagger in his cloak . 
Spendius kept continually behind him , and when they returned the dagger had 
not been drawn . Another time Narr ' Havas took them a long way off , as far as 
the boundaries of his kingdom . They came to a narrow gorge , and Narr ' Havas 
smiled as he declared that he had forgotten the way . Spendius found it again . 
But most frequently Matho would go off at sunrise , as melancholy as an augur , 
to wander about the country . He would stretch himself on the sand , and remain 
there motionless until the evening . He consulted all the soothsayers in the 
army one after the other , --those who watch the trail of serpents , those who 
read the stars , and those who breathe upon the ashes o
 f the dead . He swallowed galbanum , seseli , and viper 's venom which freezes 
the heart ; Negro women , singing barbarous words in the moonlight , pricked 
the skin of his forehead with golden stylets ; he loaded himself with necklaces 
and charms ; he invoked in turn Baal-Khamon , Moloch , the seven Kabiri , 
Tanith , and the Venus of the Greeks . He engraved a name upon a copper plate , 
and buried it in the sand at the threshold of his tent . Spendius used to hear 
him groaning and talking to himself . One night he went in . Matho , as naked 
as a corpse , was lying on a lion 's skin flat on his stomach , with his face 
in both his hands ; a hanging lamp lit up his armour , which was hooked on to 
the tent-pole above his head . " You are suffering ? " said the slave to him . 
" What is the matter with you ? Answer me ? " And he shook him by the shoulder 
calling him several times , " Master ! master ! " At last Matho lifted large 
troubled eyes towards him . " Listen ! " he said in a low v
 oice , and with a finger on his lips . " It is the wrath of the Gods ! 
Hamilcar 's daughter pursues me ! I am afraid of her , Spendius ! " He pressed 
himself close against his breast like a child terrified by a phantom . " Speak 
to me ! I am sick ! I want to get well ! I have tried everything ! But you , 
you perhaps know some stronger gods , or some resistless invocation ? " " For 
what purpose ? " asked Spendius . Striking his head with both his fists , he 
replied : " To rid me of her ! " Then speaking to himself with long pauses he 
said : " I am no doubt the victim of some holocaust which she has promised to 
the gods ? --She holds me fast by a chain which people cannot see . If I walk , 
it is she that is advancing ; when I stop , she is resting ! Her eyes burn me , 
I hear her voice . She encompasses me , she penetrates me . It seems to me that 
she has become my soul ! " And yet between us there are , as it were , the 
invisible billows of a boundless ocean ! She is far away and quit
 e inaccessible ! The splendour of her beauty forms a cloud of light around her 
, and at times I think that I have never seen her--that she does not exist--and 
that it is all a dream ! " Matho wept thus in the darkness ; the Barbarians 
were sleeping . Spendius , as he looked at him , recalled the young men who 
once used to entreat him with golden cases in their hands , when he led his 
herd of courtesans through the towns ; a feeling of pity moved him , and he 
said-- " Be strong , my master ! Summon your will , and beseech the gods no 
more , for they turn not aside at the cries of men ! Weeping like a coward ! 
And you are not humiliated that a woman can cause you so much suffering ? " " 
Am I a child ? " said Matho . " Do you think that I am moved by their faces and 
songs ? We kept them at Drepanum to sweep out our stables . I have embraced 
them amid assaults , beneath falling ceilings , and while the catapult was 
still vibrating ! --But she , Spendius , she ! -- " The slave interrupte
 d him : " If she were not Hanno 's daughter-- " " No ! " cried Matho . " She 
has nothing in common with the daughters of other men ! Have you seen her great 
eyes beneath her great eyebrows , like suns beneath triumphal arches ? Think : 
when she appeared all the torches grew pale . Her naked breast shone here and 
there through the diamonds of her necklace ; behind her you perceived as it 
were the odour of a temple , and her whole being emitted something that was 
sweeter than wine and more terrible than death . She walked , however , and 
then she stopped . " He remained gaping with his head cast down and his 
eyeballs fixed . " But I want her ! I need her ! I am dying for her ! I am 
transported with frenzied joy at the thought of clasping her in my arms , and 
yet I hate her , Spendius ! I should like to beat her ! What is to be done ? I 
have a mind to sell myself and become her slave ! YOU have been that ! You were 
able to get sight of her ; speak to me of her ! Every night she ascends
  to the terrace of her palace , does she not ? Ah ! the stones must quiver 
beneath her sandals , and the stars bend down to see her ! " He fell back in a 
perfect frenzy , with a rattling in his throat like a wounded bull . Then Matho 
sang : " He pursued into the forest the female monster , whose tail undulated 
over the dead leaves like a silver brook . " And with lingering tones he 
imitated Salammbo 's voice , while his outspread hands were held like two light 
hands on the strings of a lyre . To all the consolations offered by Spendius , 
he repeated the same words ; their nights were spent in these wailings and 
exhortations . Matho sought to drown his thoughts in wine . After his fits of 
drunkenness he was more melancholy still . He tried to divert himself at 
huckle-bones , and lost the gold plates of his necklace one by one . He had 
himself taken to the servants of the Goddess ; but he came down the hill 
sobbing , like one returning from a funeral . Spendius , on the contrary , bec
 ame more bold and gay . He was to be seen in the leafy taverns discoursing in 
the midst of the soldiers . He mended old cuirasses . He juggled with daggers . 
He went and gathered herbs in the fields for the sick . He was facetious , 
dexterous , full of invention and talk ; the Barbarians grew accustomed to his 
services , and he came to be loved by them . However , they were awaiting an 
ambassador from Carthage to bring them mules laden with baskets of gold ; and 
ever beginning the same calculation over again , they would trace figures with 
their fingers in the sand . Every one was arranging his life beforehand ; they 
would have concubines , slaves , lands ; others intended to bury their treasure 
, or risk it on a vessel . But their tempers were provoked by want of 
employment ; there were constant disputes between horse-soldiers and 
foot-soldiers , Barbarians and Greeks , while there was a never-ending din of 
shrill female voices . Every day men came flocking in nearly naked , and wi
 th grass on their heads to protect them from the sun ; they were the debtors 
of the rich Carthaginians and had been forced to till the lands of the latter , 
but had escaped . Libyans came pouring in with peasants ruined by the taxes , 
outlaws , and malefactors . Then the horde of traders , all the dealers in wine 
and oil , who were furious at not being paid , laid the blame upon the Republic 
. Spendius declaimed against it . Soon the provisions ran low ; and there was 
talk of advancing in a body upon Carthage , and calling in the Romans . One 
evening , at supper-time , dull cracked sounds were heard approaching , and 
something red appeared in the distance among the undulations of the soil . It 
was a large purple litter , adorned with ostrich feathers at the corners . 
Chains of crystal and garlands of pearls beat against the closed hangings . It 
was followed by camels sounding the great bells that hung at their breasts , 
and having around them horsemen clad from shoulder to heel in a
 rmour of golden scales . They halted three hundred paces from the camp to take 
their round bucklers , broad swords , and Boeotian helmets out of the cases 
which they carried behind their saddles . Some remained with the camels , while 
the others resumed their march . At last the ensigns of the Republic appeared , 
that is to say , staves of blue wood terminated in horses ' heads or fir cones 
. The Barbarians all rose with applause ; the women rushed towards the guards 
of the Legion and kissed their feet . The litter advanced on the shoulders of 
twelve Negroes who walked in step with short , rapid strides ; they went at 
random to right or left , being embarrassed by the tent-ropes , the animals 
that were straying about , or the tripods where food was being cooked . 
Sometimes a fat hand , laden with rings , would partially open the litter , and 
a hoarse voice would utter loud reproaches ; then the bearers would stop and 
take a different direction through the camp . But the purple curta
 ins were raised , and a human head , impassible and bloated , was seen resting 
on a large pillow ; the eyebrows , which were like arches of ebony , met each 
other at the points ; golden dust sparkled in the frizzled hair , and the face 
was so wan that it looked as if it had been powdered with marble raspings . The 
rest of the body was concealed beneath the fleeces which filled the litter . In 
the man so reclining the soldiers recognised the Suffet Hanno , he whose 
slackness had assisted to lose the battle of the Aegatian islands ; and as to 
his victory at Hecatompylos over the Libyans , even if he did behave with 
clemency , thought the Barbarians , it was owing to cupidity , for he had sold 
all the captives on his own account , although he had reported their deaths to 
the Republic . After seeking for some time a convenient place from which to 
harangue the soldiers , he made a sign ; the litter stopped , and Hanno , 
supported by two slaves , put his tottering feet to the ground . He 
 wore boots of black felt strewn with silver moons . His legs were swathed in 
bands like those wrapped about a mummy , and the flesh crept through the 
crossings of the linen ; his stomach came out beyond the scarlet jacket which 
covered his thighs ; the folds of his neck fell down to his breast like the 
dewlaps of an ox ; his tunic , which was painted with flowers , was bursting at 
the arm-pits ; he wore a scarf , a girdle , and an ample black cloak with laced 
double-sleeves . But the abundance of his garments , his great necklace of blue 
stones , his golden clasps , and heavy earrings only rendered his deformity 
still more hideous . He might have been taken for some big idol rough-hewn in a 
block of stone ; for a pale leprosy , which was spread over his whole body , 
gave him the appearance of an inert thing . His nose , however , which was 
hooked like a vulture 's beak , was violently dilated to breathe in the air , 
and his little eyes , with their gummed lashes , shone with a hard 
 and metallic lustre . He held a spatula of aloe-wood in his hand wherewith to 
scratch his skin . At last two heralds sounded their silver horns ; the tumult 
subsided , and Hanno commenced to speak . He began with an eulogy of the gods 
and the Republic ; the Barbarians ought to congratulate themselves on having 
served it . But they must show themselves more reasonable ; times were hard , " 
and if a master has only three olives , is it not right that he should keep two 
for himself ? " The old Suffet mingled his speech in this way with proverbs and 
apologues , nodding his head the while to solicit some approval . He spoke in 
Punic , and those surrounding him ( the most alert , who had hastened thither 
without their arms ) , were Campanians , Gauls , and Greeks , so that no one in 
the crowd understood him . Hanno , perceiving this , stopped and reflected , 
swaying himself heavily from one leg to the other . It occurred to him to call 
the captains together ; then his heralds shouted the 
 order in Greek , the language which , from the time of Xanthippus , had been 
used for commands in the Carthaginian armies . The guards dispersed the mob of 
soldiers with strokes of the whip ; and the captains of the Spartan phalanxes 
and the chiefs of the Barbarian cohorts soon arrived with the insignia of their 
rank , and in the armour of their nation . Night had fallen , a great tumult 
was spreading throughout the plain ; fires were burning here and there ; and 
the soldiers kept going from one to another asking what the matter was , and 
why the Suffet did not distribute the money ? He was setting the infinite 
burdens of the Republic before the captains . Her treasury was empty . The 
tribute to Rome was crushing her . " We are quite at a loss what to do ! She is 
much to be pitied ! " From time to time he would rub his limbs with his 
aloe-wood spatula , or perhaps he would break off to drink a ptisan made of the 
ashes of a weasel and asparagus boiled in vinegar from a silver cup han
 ded to him by a slave ; then he would wipe his lips with a scarlet napkin and 
resume : " What used to be worth a shekel of silver is now worth three shekels 
of gold , while the cultivated lands which were abandoned during the war bring 
in nothing ! Our purpura fisheries are nearly gone , and even pearls are 
becoming exhorbitant ; we have scarcely unguents enough for the service of the 
gods ! As for the things of the table , I shall say nothing about them ; it is 
a calamity ! For want of galleys we are without spices , and it is a matter of 
great difficulty to procure silphium on account of the rebellions on the 
Cyrenian frontier . Sicily , where so many slaves used to be had , is now 
closed to us ! Only yesterday I gave more money for a bather and four scullions 
than I used at one time to give for a pair of elephants ! " He unrolled a long 
piece of papyrus ; and , without omitting a single figure , read all the 
expenses that the government had incurred ; so much for repairing the te
 mples , for paving the streets , for the construction of vessels , for the 
coral-fisheries , for the enlargement of the Syssitia , and for engines in the 
mines in the country of the Cantabrians . But the captains understood Punic as 
little as the soldiers , although the Mercenaries saluted one another in that 
language . It was usual to place a few Carthaginian officers in the Barbarian 
armies to act as interpreters ; after the war they had concealed themselves 
through fear of vengeance , and Hanno had not thought of taking them with him ; 
his hollow voice , too , was lost in the wind . The Greeks , girthed in their 
iron waist-belts , strained their ears as they strove to guess at his words , 
while the mountaineers , covered with furs like bears , looked at him with 
distrust , or yawned as they leaned on their brass-nailed clubs . The heedless 
Gauls sneered as they shook their lofty heads of hair , and the men of the 
desert listened motionless , cowled in their garments of grey wool 
 ; others kept coming up behind ; the guards , crushed by the mob , staggered 
on their horses ; the Negroes held out burning fir branches at arm 's length ; 
and the big Carthaginian , mounted on a grassy hillock , continued his harangue 
. The Barbarians , however , were growing impatient ; murmuring arose , and 
every one apostrophized him . Hanno gesticulated with his spatula ; and those 
who wished the others to be quiet shouted still more loudly , thereby adding to 
the din . Suddenly a man of mean appearance bounded to Hanno 's feet , snatched 
up a herald 's trumpet , blew it , and Spendius ( for it was he ) announced 
that he was going to say something of importance . At this declaration , which 
was rapidly uttered in five different languages , Greek , Latin , Gallic , 
Libyan and Balearic , the captains , half laughing and half surprised , replied 
: " Speak ! Speak ! " Spendius hesitated ; he trembled ; at last , addressing 
the Libyans who were the most numerous , he said to them : 
 " You have all heard this man 's horrible threats ! " Hanno made no 
exclamation , therefore he did not understand Libyan ; and , to carry on the 
experiment , Spendius repeated the same phrase in the other Barbarian dialects 
. They looked at one another in astonishment ; then , as by a tacit agreement , 
and believing perhaps that they had understood , they bent their heads in token 
of assent . Then Spendius began in vehement tones : " He said first that all 
the Gods of the other nations were but dreams besides the Gods of Carthage ! He 
called you cowards , thieves , liars , dogs , and the sons of dogs ! But for 
you ( he said that ! ) the Republic would not be forced to pay excessive 
tribute to the Romans ; and through your excesses you have drained it of 
perfumes , aromatics , slaves , and silphium , for you are in league with the 
nomads on the Cyrenian frontier ! But the guilty shall be punished ! He read 
the enumeration of their torments ; they shall be made to work at the paving o
 f the streets , at the equipment of the vessels , at the adornment of the 
Syssitia , while the rest shall be sent to scrape the earth in the mines in the 
country of the Cantabrians . " Spendius repeated the same statements to the 
Gauls , Greeks , Campanians and Balearians . The Mercenaries , recognising 
several of the proper names which had met their ears , were convinced that he 
was accurately reporting the Suffet 's speech . A few cried out to him , " You 
lie ! " but their voices were drowned in the tumult of the rest ; Spendius 
added : " Have you not seen that he has left a reserve of his horse-soldiers 
outside the camp ? At a given signal they will hasten hither to slay you all . 
" The Barbarians turned in that direction , and as the crowd was then 
scattering , there appeared in the midst of them , and advancing with the 
slowness of a phantom , a human being , bent , lean , entirely naked , and 
covered down to his flanks with long hair bristling with dried leaves , dust 
and thor
 ns . About his loins and his knees he had wisps of straw and linen rags ; his 
soft and earthy skin hung on his emaciated limbs like tatters on dried boughs ; 
his hands trembled with a continuous quivering , and as he walked he leaned on 
a staff of olive-wood . He reached the Negroes who were bearing the torches . 
His pale gums were displayed in a sort of idiotic titter ; his large , scared 
eyes gazed upon the crowd of Barbarians around him . But uttering a cry of 
terror he threw himself behind them , shielding himself with their bodies . " 
There they are ! There they are ! " he stammered out , pointing to the Suffet 
's guards , who were motionless in their glittering armour . Their horses , 
dazzled by the light of the torches which crackled in the darkness , were 
pawing the ground ; the human spectre struggled and howled : " They have killed 
them ! " At these words , which were screamed in Balearic , some Balearians 
came up and recognised him ; without answering them he repeated : "
  Yes , all killed , all ! crushed like grapes ! The fine young men ! the 
slingers ! my companions and yours ! " They gave him wine to drink , and he 
wept ; then he launched forth into speech . Spendius could scarcely repress his 
joy , as he explained the horrors related by Zarxas to the Greeks and Libyans ; 
he could not believe them , so appropriately did they come in . The Balearians 
grew pale as they learned how their companions had perished . It was a troop of 
three hundred slingers who had disembarked the evening before , and had on that 
day slept too late . When they reached the square of Khamon the Barbarians were 
gone , and they found themselves defenceless , their clay bullets having been 
put on the camels with the rest of the baggage . They were allowed to advance 
into the street of Satheb as far as the brass sheathed oaken gate ; then the 
people with a single impulse had sprung upon them . Indeed , the soldiers 
remembered a great shout ; Spendius , who was flying at the he
 ad of the columns , had not heard it . Then the corpses were placed in the 
arms of the Pataec gods that fringed the temple of Khamon . They were upbraided 
with all the crimes of the Mercenaries ; their gluttony , their thefts , their 
impiety , their disdain , and the murder of the fishes in Salammbo 's garden . 
Their bodies were subjected to infamous mutilations ; the priests burned their 
hair in order to torture their souls ; they were hung up in pieces in the 
meat-shops ; some even buried their teeth in them , and in the evening 
funeral-piles were kindled at the cross-ways to finish them . These were the 
flames that had gleamed from a distance across the lake . But some houses 
having taken fire , any dead or dying that remained were speedily thrown over 
the walls ; Zarxas had remained among the reeds on the edge of the lake until 
the following day ; then he had wandered about through the country , seeking 
for the army by the footprints in the dust . In the morning he hid himself i
 n caves ; in the evening he resumed his march with his bleeding wounds , 
famished , sick , living on roots and carrion ; at last one day he perceived 
lances on the horizon , and he had followed them , for his reason was disturbed 
through his terrors and miseries . The indignation of the soldiers , restrained 
so long as he was speaking , broke forth like a tempest ; they were going to 
massacre the guards together with the Suffet . A few interposed , saying that 
they ought to hear him and know at least whether they should be paid . Then 
they all cried : " Our money ! " Hanno replied that he had brought it . They 
ran to the outposts , and the Suffet 's baggage arrived in the midst of the 
tents , pressed forward by the Barbarians . Without waiting for the slaves , 
they very quickly unfastened the baskets ; in them they found hyacinth robes , 
sponges , scrapers , brushes , perfumes , and antimony pencils for painting the 
eyes--all belonging to the guards , who were rich men and accustome
 d to such refinements . Next they uncovered a large bronze tub on a camel : it 
belonged to the Suffet who had it for bathing in during his journey ; for he 
had taken all manner of precautions , even going so far as to bring caged 
weasels from Hecatompylos , which were burnt alive to make his ptisan . But , 
as his malady gave him a great appetite , there were also many comestibles and 
many wines , pickle , meats and fishes preserved in honey , with little pots of 
Commagene , or melted goose-fat covered with snow and chopped straw . There was 
a considerable supply of it ; the more they opened the baskets the more they 
found , and laughter arose like conflicting waves . As to the pay of the 
Mercenaries it nearly filled two esparto-grass baskets ; there were even 
visible in one of them some of the leathern discs which the Republic used to 
economise its specie ; and as the Barbarians appeared greatly surprised , Hanno 
told them that , their accounts being very difficult , the Ancients ha
 d not had leisure to examine them . Meanwhile they had sent them this . Then 
everything was in disorder and confusion : mules , serving men , litter , 
provisions , and baggage . The soldiers took the coin in the bags to stone 
Hanno . With great difficulty he was able to mount an ass ; and he fled , 
clinging to its hair , howling , weeping , shaken , bruised , and calling down 
the curse of all the gods upon the army . His broad necklace of precious stones 
rebounded up to his ears . His cloak which was too long , and which trailed 
behind him , he kept on with his teeth , and from afar the Barbarians shouted 
at him , " Begone coward ! pig ! sink of Moloch ! sweat your gold and your 
plague ! quicker ! quicker ! " The routed escort galloped beside him . But the 
fury of the Barbarians did not abate . They remembered that several of them who 
had set out for Carthage had not returned ; no doubt they had been killed . So 
much injustice exasperated them , and they began to pull up the stakes 
 of their tents , to roll up their cloaks , and to bridle their horses ; every 
one took his helmet and sword , and instantly all was ready . Those who had no 
arms rushed into the woods to cut staves . Day dawned ; the people of Sicca 
were roused , and stirring in the streets . " They are going to Carthage , " 
said they , and the rumour of this soon spread through the country . From every 
path and every ravine men arose . Shepherds were seen running down from the 
mountains . Then , when the Barbarians had set out , Spendius circled the plain 
, riding on a Punic stallion , and attended by his slave , who led a third 
horse . A single tent remained . Spendius entered it . " Up , master ! rise ! 
we are departing ! " " And where are you going ? " asked Matho . " To Carthage 
! " cried Spendius . Matho bounded upon the horse which the slave held at the 
door . 
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+ The Bremen town musicians There was once an ass whose master had made him 
carry sacks to the mill for many a long year , but whose strength began at last 
to fail , so that each day as it came found him less capable of work . Then his 
master began to think of turning him out , but the ass , guessing that 
something was in the wind that boded him no good , ran away , taking the road 
to Bremen ; for there he thought he might get an engagement as town musician . 
When he had gone a little way he found a hound lying by the side of the road 
panting , as if he had run a long way . “ Now , Holdfast , what are you so 
out of breath about ? ” said the ass . “ Oh dear ! ” said the dog , “ 
now I am old , I get weaker every day , and can do no good in the hunt , so , 
as my master was going to have me killed , I have made my escape ; but now , 
how am I to gain a living ? ” - “ I will tell you what , ” said the ass , 
“ I am going to Bremen to become town musician . You may as we
 ll go with me , and take up music too . I can play the lute , and you can beat 
the drum . ” And the dog consented , and they walked on together . It was not 
long before they came to a cat sitting in the road , looking as dismal as three 
wet days. “ Now then , what is the matter with you , old shaver ? ” said 
the ass . “ I should like to know who would be cheerful when his neck is in 
danger , ” answered the cat . “ Now that I am old my teeth are getting 
blunt , and I would rather sit by the oven and purr than run about after mice , 
and my mistress wanted to drown me ; so I took myself off ; but good advice is 
scarce , and I do not know what is to become of me . ” - “ Go with us to 
Bremen , ” said the ass , “ and become town musician . You understand 
serenading . ” The cat thought well of the idea , and went with them 
accordingly . After that the three travellers passed by a yard , and a cock was 
perched on the gate crowing with all his might . “ Your cries are
  enough to pierce bone and marrow , ” said the ass ; “ what is the matter 
? ” - “ I have foretold good weather for Lady-day , so that all the shirts 
may be washed and dried ; and now on Sunday morning company is coming , and the 
mistress has told the cook that I must be made into soup , and this evening my 
neck is to be wrung , so that I am crowing with all my might while I can . ” 
- “ You had much better go with us , Chanticleer , ” said the ass . “ We 
are going to Bremen . At any rate that will be better than dying . You have a 
powerful voice , and when we are all performing together it will have a very 
good effect . ” So the cock consented , and they went on all four together . 
But Bremen was too far off to be reached in one day , and towards evening they 
came to a wood , where they determined to pass the night . The ass and the dog 
lay down under a large tree ; the cat got up among the branches , and the cock 
flew up to the top , as that was the safest place fo
 r him . Before he went to sleep he looked all round him to the four points of 
the compass , and perceived in the distance a little light shining , and he 
called out to his companions that there must be a house not far off , as he 
could see a light , so the ass said , “ We had better get up and go there , 
for these are uncomfortable quarters . ” The dog began to fancy a few bones , 
not quite bare , would do him good . And they all set off in the direction of 
the light , and it grew larger and brighter , until at last it led them to a 
robber’s house , all lighted up . The ass . being the biggest , went up to 
the window , and looked in . “ Well , what do you see ? ” asked the dog . 
“ What do I see ? ” answered the ass ; “ here is a table set out with 
splendid eatables and drinkables , and robbers sitting at it and making 
themselves very comfortable . ” - “ That would just suit us , ” said the 
cock . “ Yes , indeed , I wish we were there , ” said the ass . Then
  they consulted together how it should be managed so as to get the robbers out 
of the house , and at last they hit on a plan . The ass was to place his 
forefeet on the window-sill , the dog was to get on the ass’s back , the cat 
on the top of the dog , and lastly the cock was to fly up and perch on the 
cat’s head . When that was done , at a given signal they all began to perform 
their music . The ass brayed , the dog barked , the cat mewed , and the cock 
crowed ; then they burst through into the room , breaking all the panes of 
glass . The robbers fled at the dreadful sound ; they thought it was some 
goblin , and fled to the wood in the utmost terror . Then the four companions 
sat down to table , made free with the remains of the meal , and feasted as if 
they had been hungry for a month . And when they had finished they put out the 
lights , and each sought out a sleeping-place to suit his nature and habits . 
The ass laid himself down outside on the dunghill , the dog behind the 
 door , the cat on the hearth by the warm ashes , and the cock settled himself 
in the cockloft , and as they were all tired with their long journey they soon 
fell fast asleep . When midnight drew near , and the robbers from afar saw that 
no light was burning , and that everything appeared quiet , their captain said 
to them that he thought that they had run away without reason , telling one of 
them to go and reconnoitre . So one of them went , and found everything quite 
quiet ; he went into the kitchen to strike a light , and taking the glowing 
fiery eyes of the cat for burning coals , he held a match to them in order to 
kindle it . But the cat , not seeing the joke , flew into his face , spitting 
and scratching . Then he cried out in terror , and ran to get out at the back 
door , but the dog , who was lying there , ran at him and bit his leg ; and as 
he was rushing through the yard by the dunghill the ass struck out and gave him 
a great kick with his hind foot ; and the cock , who ha
 d been wakened with the noise , and felt quite brisk , cried out , “ 
Cock-a-doodle-doo ! ” Then the robber got back as well as he could to his 
captain , and said , “ Oh dear ! in that house there is a gruesome witch , 
and I felt her breath and her long nails in my face ; and by the door there 
stands a man who stabbed me in the leg with a knife ; and in the yard there 
lies a black spectre , who beat me with his wooden club ; and above , upon the 
roof , there sits the justice , who cried , ‘ Bring that rogue here ! ’ And 
so I ran away from the place as fast as I could . ” From that time forward 
the robbers never ventured to that house , and the four Bremen town musicians 
found themselves so well off where they were , that there they stayed . And the 
person who last related this tale is still living , as you see . 
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